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Nice Cut and Paste @Pete Lane does the @Comic Dog approve?

By Racing Administrators you must include Club committees too.  

Who Benefits: How monopoly money bought NZ’s gambling scene newsroom.co.nz Who Benefits is a year-long project tracking and disclosing lobbying and influence, supported financially by a grant from The Integrity Institute. Newsroom develops the subject areas, is led by what we uncover, and retains full editorial control. If you know where influence is being brought to bear, email us in confidence at:trublenzOIA@protonmail.com   In 2023, New Zealand made a bet to secure the future of its racing industry. It pushed its chips to Entain, a global wagering giant based in the Isle of Man, which was given the exclusive rights to operate New Zealand’s onshore betting monopoly via the TAB.https://bitofayarn.com From the beginning, regulating the gambling industry was a question of who benefits: private sin was allowed so long as it funded public good, in a system controlled by the Crown. When this was privatised and sold to Entain, officials at the Department of Internal Affairs wrote to the minister in charge about a change in who benefits: “Some of the benefits and the profits of the monopoly would now flow to Entain, rather than be solely for the benefit of TAB NZ and in turn New Zealand racing and sports,” they wrote. In their words, “this means that there will be a shift from the original intent of a not-for-profit monopoly that would benefit the racing codes and sporting organisations – which receive funding from TAB NZ – to a for-profit monopoly, with Entain New Zealand profiting”. The 25-year partnership was secured in part due to Entain’s billion-dollar willingness to stump up. It offered $150m up front if accepted, $100m if certain legislation was changed, plus five $150m annual instalments to prop up a racing industry on the brink of financial collapse. After those five years, Entain would provide the millions out of its own earnings from the New Zealand market, split 50/50 with the TAB.https://bitofayarn.com Now, halfway through that five-year period, Entain has been beset by internal turmoil and recorded net global losses. Legislative delays and a tougher-than-anticipated global market led to write-downs in its annual reports, which has led the company to make cuts and focus on a new market: New Zealand’s young punters, mostly men. Until recently, the reason for granting Entain its monopoly – guaranteed returns to support racing codes – has had to contend with unregulated overseas gambling outfits, forcing Entain to double down on the customer base it paid to corner. Another pressure looms with the incoming entry of overseas online casinos to the legal New Zealand market, though it’s debated how much this will detract from Entain’s earnings. This arrangement means the long-term financial risk profile of New Zealand’s racing industry is entirely dependent on the commercial performance of a private, foreign-owned entity, which has recorded billions in operational losses over the past two years, though revenue growth has consistently increased. Rumours are swirling in the industry that Entain is positioning itself to sell the underperforming monopoly, but its regional boss strongly denies this.https://bitofayarn.com Entain, the TAB and the racing industry stand to gain the most from the monopoly deal. But with Entain’s need to increase profits to keep its operation sustainable, gambling harm watchdogs warn the ones with the most to lose are gamblers, including young people, who are being targeted with a new wave of advertising by an invigorated and rapidly mutating online gambling industry. Racing on the ropes TAB New Zealand has come a long way since it started offering racing bets in 1951. For decades, it worked alongside the three racing codes to sell bets and funnel profits back to sporting bodies, community groups and the racing industry – the fate of which has always been tied to the performance of the TAB.https://bitofayarn.com Racing in New Zealand is a $1.9b industry that employs more than 13,000 people. Because of how the New Zealand gambling industry is designed, racing is almost completely reliant on the TAB, which supplies more than 90 percent of its income. Individual breeders and New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing did not respond to requests to comment on this article. The balance of this system changed with the introduction of the internet. Overseas gambling outfits – once impossible to access from New Zealand’s shores – suddenly became available, and a whole world of sports and casino betting has opened up, funneling gambling money away from the TAB and the organisations that depend on it.https://bitofayarn.com Now, Kiwi customers can bet on American basketball via a British website all without leaving their bedroom, and – until the deal – there is little guarantee the company in question will share its profits with New Zealand as required.  In recent years, the TAB’s lagging performance has been felt by the racing codes, but also its own operation – both of which were threatened with collapse if the financial ship couldn’t be righted.https://bitofayarn.com In the 2022/23 financial year, the TAB returned approximately $139 million to the three racing codes: harness, thoroughbred and greyhound – though the latter is now in the process of being disestablished.  As the 2020s began, it became clear this wasn’t going to be enough to sustain the racing industry. New Zealand’s punters have transitioned to overseas platforms like bet365, which are mandated to share profits with New Zealand’s racing codes to the degree of the TAB, instead shipping earnings offshore – though many were shirking this responsibility. According to documents released by the Department of Internal Affairs under the Official Information Act, only a small number of offshore operators comply with their tax obligations in New Zealand, and for those that don’t follow the rules, “enforcement is likely to be difficult”.https://bitofayarn.com The racing industry made the realities of its situation clear to ministers, who took action in 2022 by offering bids to buy out the TAB in order to bail out the industry. But the ministers who have overseen the Entain deal – the one signed in a bid to save the industry – have not been eager to shed light on how that decision was made or what information was put in front of them by officials, the TAB or Entain itself.  Current Racing Minister Winton Peters responded to Newsroom’s queries via a spokesperson – we’ll come back to him later. https://bitofayarn.com Labour’s Kieran McAnulty – the one who signed off on the deal – has refused to comment on the record, saying he is no longer the party’s racing spokesperson. The former TAB bookmaker won’t talk about any conversations he had with the TAB or Entain in the lead-up to the agreement. The current Labour spokesperson for racing, Tangi Utikere, was not around when the decision was made and says he doesn’t have any new information to give Newsroom on how and why the deal was minted.https://bitofayarn.com   Here is what is known about how the deal came about. In 2023, McAnulty announced his government’s intention to partner the TAB with an offshore operator – to take advantage of more advanced technologies and methods, but also to essentially provide a bailout for the racing industry. Five companies put in bids for the New Zealand licence. One remains unknown. Two of them, Tabcorp and Sportsbet, are Australian, while the other contender, bet365, is based in England. As for Entain, the company has its headquarters on the nearby Isle of Man – a self-governing ‘mini-country’ widely regarded as a tax haven. McAnulty, speaking at the time, was clear about what caused the situation: “The onset of unregulated online gambling changed the game and our racing and sports industry has been losing money ever since,” he said. It would have meant the loss of thousands of jobs, and an entire local industry.https://bitofayarn.com McAnulty’s announcements detailed how Entain’s economies of scale and technological capabilities secured the deal, though the actual negotiation process was conducted via the TAB and remains opaque. McAnulty was also explicit about the need to increase harm minimisation protocols as the opportunity for change presented itself.  But Entain also came with a better offer than its counterparts: a billion dollars split between direct funding for the racing codes over five years and further chunks contingent on legislative changes.  The arrangement had immediate effects on the TAB, as chief executive Mike Tod stepped down in May 2023 after the deal was inked. Chief financial officer Cameron Rodger became head of Entain’s New Zealand operation – a position he would leave in February 2025.https://bitofayarn.com Nick Roberts, who managed the transition, was appointed and remains the head of the TAB. He has repeated McAnulty’s reasoning for choosing Entain: better systems, software and experience. Roberts tells Newsroom that without the capital investment, the racing industry would absolutely not have survived. When announcing the deal, McAnulty said signing the agreement and saving the industry was “one of the most significant days in New Zealand racing history”. https://bitofayarn.com Entain’s overseas performance in question The industry was relieved, and McAnulty spoke about the deal with confidence. It meant $150m was immediately injected into the racing industry by Entain, plus another $150m every year for five years, and another $100m if legislation passed to ban all other offshore operators.  This was contrary to some advice prepared for McAnulty at the time; his officials wrote “we do not recommend proceeding further with blocking or filtering of online gambling websites” given complex considerations around human rights. But McAnulty’s government would not survive the upcoming election, and any momentum McAnulty had in the area was passed to racing industry champion Winston Peters.https://bitofayarn.com A true monopoly was the whole point of the deal, but only this year, with the banning of offshore operators, has Entain begun to enjoy it. TAB’s future questioned as Entain denies rumours of a sale  In a 2024 document prepared for Peters, his officials wrote “there is long-term uncertainty for the industry given TAB NZ’s financial situation”. This was officials’ view despite the deal with Entain, including its “significant cash injection”.  “TAB NZ’s long-term distributions to the racing industry are still under threat from the loss of revenue to offshore online operators,” they wrote, as background for the Racing Industry Amendment Act: a proposal to solidify the TAB and Entain’s monopoly on online gambling. https://bitofayarn.com The act passed in 2025, and created a legislative net over the sector: banning all offshore operators from offering sport and racing bets to customers in New Zealand. Entain asked for this from the beginning. A core part of the deal was the explicit linking of capital injection and desired legislative change – Entain offered a final $100m contingent on the creation of this legislative net.  But even this has not proven completely airtight. Entain’s new head of New Zealand and Australia, Andrew Vouris, last month went on the Guerin Report (a show run by Trackside, which is owned by the TAB, so effectively in-house media for Vouris) and said the company has detected more than 200 offshore operators still trying to attract New Zealand punters.https://bitofayarn.com According to a memo from the Department of Internal Affairs, “While it is likely TAB NZ’s revenue would increase under a monopoly, it is not guaranteed.” Exclusive access to the New Zealand market was the entire point of the billion-dollar deal for Entain. As Vouris put it in the Trackside interview: “We paid a lot of money for a monopoly, and we want to make sure that we get a monopoly.” Entain directed Newsroom’s questions to the TAB rather than Vouris. Vouris also denied rumours that Entain was looking to sell its monopoly. Sources close to the gambling industry have speculated that the combination of write-downs in its annual reports and a changing of the guard at the management level suggests it could be positioning itself to offload the deal onto another outfit, but Vouris says they’re “here for the long haul”.  “We’ll do what we need to do. And if racing does what it needs to do, then there is a really, really strong business here that will live well beyond the 25-year partnership.”https://bitofayarn.com Legal risk leads to financial uncertainty Entain’s promise of capital injections have buoyed the racing industry, but come with associated risks. New Zealand regulators have acknowledged this by implementing enhanced, Entain-specific compliance guidelines including audits and reviews and strengthening the requirements for the oversight of its board. John Tulloch, a spokesperson for Peters, tells Newsroom the recent amendments to the racing industry also give the minister powers to request information from the TAB for performance assessment and increased regulation-making powers for both harm minimisation and consumer protection. This allows measures to be put in place if the TAB’s performance does not meet expectations. When the new law passed in June, it triggered not only that $100m payment for the legislative net, but also a $15m topup to the minimum guaranteed annual funding through 2028. The move comes as Entain’s money-laundering investigation progresses with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC). AUSTRAC’s case against Entain centres on alleged serious and systemic deficiencies in the company’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing compliance programme over a six-year period from 2018 to 2024. During this time, AUSTRAC identified inadequate compliance for verifying customer accounts and the source of funds for high-value transactions, as well as allowing 17 higher-risk customers to wager more than AU$152 million (NZ$175m) without proper scrutiny. In its defence claim, Entain acknowledges it “did not meet expectations” and offered to collaborate with the investigation, but disputed some of the allegations.  Civil penalty proceedings against Entain began on December 16, 2024. In the company’s annual report from that year, it says “it is not possible to reliably estimate the quantum or timing of any fine” should it lose the case, but acknowledges the consequences “could be material”, and cites precedent for such fines in the Australian gaming sector of AU$45m-$450m (NZ$52m-$520m).  https://bitofayarn.com In other sections of its annual reports, Entain registers significant financial charges. In 2023, it recorded a non-cash impairment charge of £190m (NZ$439m) against its Australian Cash-Generating Unit due to increased point of consumption taxes and a forecast decline in revenue due to poor market outlook. Also in 2023, Entain recorded a discounted liability of £585m (NZ$1.35b) related to a deferred prosecution agreement with the Crown Prosecution Service in London, as a resolution of an investigation into the group’s Turkish business, which it sold in 2017. https://bitofayarn.com This was the main contributor to the fact that despite strong underlying revenue growth, the company recorded a net loss of £842.6m (NZ$1.95b) in 2023. Revenue continued to increase the following year – up 7 percent – but Entain still recorded an operating loss of £250m, (NZ$577m) “largely due to increased joint venture losses”. When speaking to Trackside’s Michael Guerin, Entertain’s Vouris says New Zealand’s operation would be sheltered from the overseas turbulence. He insists that the outcome of the AUSTRAC case will not impact the New Zealand business at all, because New Zealand is “totally looked at separately”. Still, in 2024, Entain recorded an impairment charge of £142.5m (NZ$392m) against its TAB New Zealand business due to reduced growth forecasts, as well as “the tougher macro-economic environment in New Zealand and the delay in the introduction of the legislative net”. This comes alongside a £18.5m (NZ$42.7m) writedown on the value of New Zealand assets. Not all of the details of these legal cases – as well as the potential financial and reputational risks – were known when the deal was inked by McAnulty back in 2023.https://bitofayarn.com But according to communications released under the Official Information Act, it’s clear that the TAB led the selection of Entain as the winning bidder, and did so despite the Australian case.  On December 17, 2024, Heather Hay, the TAB’s legal and regulatory head, updated Peters’ office on the AUSTRAC investigation, saying the TAB “thoroughly considered this issue during the pre-partnership phase of ministerial approval for our partnership with Entain”. Beyond this briefing at the end of last year, it’s not clear what conversations were had – if any – between officials, ministers, Entain and the TAB regarding the AUSTRAC issue or other legal challenges – and whether any potential legal, reputational and financial risks were outweighed by the dollar figure put forward by Entain.https://bitofayarn.com With neither the current nor previous racing ministers willing to discuss any meetings or discussions with those who stand to benefit, it’s also unclear whether there was any direct lobbying from Entain (or other bidders), or the TAB, to ministers regarding this specific deal. TAB head Roberts says the bidding process was run by his organisation, which then referred Entain to the minister. On the face of things, other operators who bid for the deal may have offered a more stable proposition and, in some cases, headquarters closer to home. The arrangement the TAB and the government chose means a bailout in the short term, but long-term reliance on what could be considered a turbulent company.  Even with the risks assessed, multiple audits conducted and a custom framework set up for Entain to operate properly in New Zealand, it made its first mistake on July 24, 2024. For nearly four hours that evening, it offered a “New Zealanders to medal” market on a wrestling event, despite not having an agreement with Sport and Recreation New Zealand to offer bets on wrestling. Five bets were sold, totalling only $13. The TAB notified the Department of Internal Affairs and Peters, saying it “acknowledges that this incident is serious, however we are satisfied with the steps taken by Entain NZ to ensure it does not happen again”. Winners and losers on a billion-dollar bet If Entain, the TAB and the horse racing industry are set to gain from this deal, then one of the players with the most to lose is Greyhound Racing New Zealand which, alongside the two horse racing codes, stood to receive a portion of the annual cash injection provided by Entain. But with the Government’s decision to ban greyhound racing in New Zealand, the code’s slice of the pie will be divided between the two remaining horse outfits. https://bitofayarn.com Greyhound Racing New Zealand has commissioned an independent financial analysis of the decision to ban their code and how it would impact Entain’s operations, but also took a wider look at the company’s situation. It estimates a total investment by Entain in New Zealand of $350-$400m over the first five years, up to $400-450m if the legislative net was implemented.  This means Entain needs to accumulate about $400m in net income to break even on its investment in the monopoly, but the report estimates its earnings before taxes and other expenses are “approximately zero” – even before the minimum guarantee top-up is considered. https://bitofayarn.com Profits from the New Zealand wagering industry are split equally between the TAB and Entain. Since Entain manages all associated costs, the TAB’s ability to maintain or exceed the current $150 million funding level is entirely reliant on Entain’s efficiency, market growth, and ability to maximise profits.  To shore up earnings, Entain has moved to focus on its core wagering licence by ditching what Vouris calls “non-core business things” and abandoning initiatives that require high operation costs, such as the TAB’s Racing Club, which costs $2.5m to run each year. Vouris says this is “getting back to basics: selling bets and delivering strong returns to the New Zealand racing industry”.https://bitofayarn.com Entain is making a concentrated effort to widen the base of racing punters via targeted advertising and enticements, like free bonus bets, especially on racing. And they’ve worked; last year, according to Vouris, of all the TAB users who had never placed a bet on racing, 47 percent did so for the first time. Entain’s need for accelerated market growth has also led them to target the burgeoning online demographic of younger punters. In August 2024, Entain launched its digital-only brand ‘betcha’, designed specifically for this group, as the global industry eyed the same demographic. Young punters turn to sports betting over racing In August 2024 communications with Peters, TAB head Nick Roberts directly identifies betcha’s target as “the younger punter seeking heightened engagement”. Focusing on this space means the TAB can take on global challengers, “with a particular focus on winning back the younger bet365 customers”.  According to annual reports, the TAB’s sports betting turnover had grown considerably; in 2013, it was 14 percent of the total betting turnover (made up of sports and racing). By 2016, that was 24 percent. In 2023, as Entain took the reins, it hit 32 percent. But this doesn’t offer a true picture of the market at the time, because sports bettors were increasingly choosing to wager via offshore sites. As the legislative net came into effect in July this year, it made the TAB the only option for online sports betting.https://bitofayarn.com With a monopoly in force, the TAB could see for the first time the true scale of what had been slipping through the cracks. Roberts tells Newsroom it showed a dire situation: “We were losing the acquisition battle with those offshore operators.” Roberts doesn’t share the exact numbers or demographics – and it has been only six months since the change – but as of 2015, according to Auckland University of Technology’s Gambling & Addictions Research Centre, 90 percent of offshore online gamblers were aged 18-44. Because those companies weren’t regulated and didn’t always file accurate returns, there has been no way to know what the true scale is, and profits have not been mandated to flow back to New Zealand organisations, which Roberts says is a big part of the reason for the monopoly. “Our mission is very much to give customers a world-class experience in the safest environment so we can deliver critical funding to the economically significant race industry and the iconic sporting sector.” But by 2023, that mission was being threatened. The TAB was forced to look for $30m in savings, likely to be made by cutting code funding and about 100 jobs.  “We ended up as low as two thirds of the New Zealand bidding market, which – for an organisation that had a monopoly for since 1950 – that caused a lot of problems,” Roberts said. Entain’s entry and payments were a saving grace. Roberts thinks the idea that young men are being targeted to effectively prop up the racing industry is “kind of stretching what the strategy is at the moment”.  “This is money that was being gambled offshore six months ago, and all we’re doing is bringing that back into the New Zealand environment,” he says. “We’re not out here trying to grow the gambling market in New Zealand, we’re just seeking to bring that market back into our legislative net.” Online casino behemoth lurks on the horizon New Zealand’s youth targeted by overseas outfits Online casinos and sports betting outlets have targeted young men worldwide, for whom it has become a common and casual habit. The demographic is heavily targeted by online wagering companies, and despite New Zealand’s ban on advertising, overseas companies have slipped through the cracks.https://bitofayarn.com In May, Otago University student magazine Critic Te Ārohi reported offshore betting company Rainbet was using student affiliates to promote its online casino on social media. One student reported other outfits offered up to $1200 a week to post social media content featuring their platform – a practice that violates section 16(1) of the Gambling Act 2003. Oliver, a 20-year-old student at Otago University, spoke to Newsroom on the condition only his first name would be used.  Oliver said among his friend group, gambling was something you did over a few drinks, “like a hit of a cigarette with your mates”. His friends would frequently chip in to gamble on the same online blackjack hand. Others use the betcha app, but Oliver can’t access the TAB – he tried to make an account at 17 and has been banned ever since. “It’s always accessible, just like a game on your phone that you can play whenever you want,” Oliver says. In his peak gambling phase, Oliver was betting every day. He says he’s calmed down now that he’s on holiday without an income – “but that’s more just a lack of funds”. Oliver says most young men either participate in gambling or are around peers who do. But with the ease of access via a phone app linked to your credit card, things can quickly snowball.  During exam season, Oliver took a Concerta pill from a friend. “It’s a prescription drug that locks you in, really hard, for 12 hours and you study heaps,” he says. https://bitofayarn.com “An hour into it I remembered that I had some money in my bet365 account, so I bought a $40 feature, and that paid out for $600.” He flipped that into $800 betting on blackjack, “and then the Concerta really hit, and just all I could think and do was just gambling”. Three hours later the money was gone. Another weekend he made $1000 – “that was probably my highlight”. “With the growth of technology, with all the colours and the roulette spins and slots and stuff, it’s just scientifically done to make you lock into it and keep coming back.” Oliver believes the rise of online gambling presents a totally different challenge to the ones seen by people who only ever gambled on races, for whom our current regulations were designed. “It’s a lot more hyper-focused than horse racing; it’s a lot more complex and harder to get out of, which is tough for young people who grew up with gambling.” The same gambling mechanics have crossed over into video games, which offer a ‘loot box’-style approach to collectibles, and cryptocurrency, another industry pushed at young men. Now, it’s even part of the news. Just two weeks ago, CNN announced it would incorporate data from probability wagering giant Kalshi as its official “prediction markets partner”. Kalshi offers people the chance to gamble on real-world events, like: “Will the IPC classify Gaza as experiencing famine this year?” It also offers sports betting, which was accessible from a New Zealand IP address as of December 2025 – even with the legislative net. “The more I think about it, it is pretty fucked how it’s gotten to this point,” Oliver says. Oliver doesn’t blame the gambling companies. He understands it as a business looking to make money. And he enjoys the experience. https://bitofayarn.com Then there are the economic and employment impacts: “I guess the money does actually support a lot of people, so that is something I haven’t thought of before. That does change my perspective a bit.” Still, Oliver has seen an increase in advertising pushed at his demographic during the past two years, since Entain took over. “I think it probably needs to take a step back. This is something that almost definitely won’t happen, because it’s great money-wise, but morally, they probably should.” Oliver says safeguards like forced deposit limits and days where the app locks the user out could help limit harm for frequent gamblers. Harm minimisation ads are already targeting this demographic, and Oliver says one he saw on YouTube appears to be personalised. “It caught you with the sports highlights and then it was telling you all the resources that they had.” Though Oliver couldn’t remember if the ads were being run by an advocacy group or by Entain itself, which has deployed such messaging. He also acknowledges that young, male gamblers like him can be notoriously hard to reach for wellbeing organisations like the Problem Gambling Foundation – but not impossible. https://bitofayarn.com   Gambling ads have youth in the crosshairs Entain’s presence in New Zealand came on the heels of a surge in online gambling by overseas outfits, which have largely been kept out of the country thanks to anti-advertising laws and now the legislative net.  But with Entain’s push to widen its revenue base, Problem Gambling Foundation advocacy and communications director Andree Froude says they are seeing an increase in young people gambling – and the harm that comes with it. Harm watchdog warns advertising space could get riskier The emphasis on online and social betting has been successful, at the expense of people like Oliver, she says. “It’s a whole new demographic of gamblers, particularly young men, who are potentially being harmed and being targeted by their new app, the betcha app.” Since Entain’s takeover, tactics have become more personal. She had one young person come to the foundation and report that a representative from the TAB had called them encouraging them to return, after they’d decreased activity on betcha. Roberts admits to this approach: “There is a generosity approach that is taken, where customers who do bet with betcha and the TAB, we check in with them and see, is there a reason they’ve left? Have they gone to an offshore operator? Those sorts of things. So those conversations do happen.”https://bitofayarn.com In the Ministry of Health’s 2025/26 Strategy to Prevent and Minimise Gambling Harm, four populations are identified as particularly high risk: Māori, Pacific, Asian, and now young people. Sports betting and online casinos have been a big part of that. In the past year, 44 percent of people aged 15 to 24 gambled. The demographic now makes up a quarter of all problem gamblers. Though, according to a 2020 Ipsos report, when it comes to the likelihood of a gambling ad prompting a deposit, the largest declines come in the age ranges of 18 to 24-year olds: down 13 percent to 62 percent. But this data is from before the Covid-19 pandemic, which changed online behaviour in almost every sector.  Froude remembers Kieran McAnulty saying at the time the Entain deal was made that it must come with a reduction in gambling harm. “He said there would be $5 million for harm minimisation, but the real question is, what outcomes have come from that?”  Roberts didn’t have the data on hand to answer. Froude agrees with Entain’s Vouris that the monopoly ought to create a strictly regulated environment, but wants to see more action than promises. “We’re just not seeing evidence, and we’re hearing far too many stories of people falling through the cracks.” Roberts, meanwhile, says harm minimisation is “absolutely critical and central to our partnership – the bedrock of the strategic partnership was that harm minimisation is at the core, and it remains at the core”. He goes so far as to say the deal with Entain is: “The biggest leap forward in harm minimisation New Zealand has ever had because of the tools and the monitoring capability that was brought.” Investment in harm minimisation was a major part of every annual report email he sent to Peters. Froude says young men like Oliver are already at high risk, especially with online and social betting. And she urges the Government to follow through on its promise to strengthen regulations which, as early as 2023, was being flagged by officials.https://bitofayarn.com According to advice prepared for McAnulty in 2023, it isn’t enough to rely on more experienced technologies and protocols to avoid gambling harm. Even if it were, doing so was a contractual agreement between the TAB and Entain, so “not something that the government can enforce”. And the tools it has to enforce problem gambling measures, in the few spaces it can, are woefully out of date. New Zealand’s existing harm regulations are 20 years old, and were designed before the concept of online gambling, which is now at the forefront of nearly all gambling harm, even existed. For one veteran gambler, we’d be better off without it Conclusion: Who did benefit? New Zealand was willing to privatise its local gambling monopoly to secure the financial future of its racing codes, gaining capital investment and exclusive market rights in the process.  This decision fundamentally changed the nature of New Zealand’s onshore betting structure from a not-for-profit, Crown-controlled system funding public initiatives, to a for-profit monopoly benefiting an overseas company, Entain.  The full impact of this decision has yet to be realised. The nation’s “biggest leap forward in harm minimisation” is yet to produce sufficient evidence of success according to watchdogs, and officials acknowledged “long-term uncertainty for the industry” even after the deal. What’s certain was the immediate relief felt by the racing codes the deal bailed out. But guaranteed minimum funding is only available for another two and a half years, after which it will be up to Entain to deliver on its promises. There will be no chance for a mulligan on this deal; New Zealand only had one shot to privatise the TAB, and it went all in with Entain. Now, the long-term success of the monopoly (and the TAB, the racing codes, and the families that depend on them) hinges not only on Entain’s ability to stabilise its global operations and fend off competitors, but also on a moral debate: at what point are the financial benefits of gambling outweighed by the harm it causes to extract them? Somewhere, there’s a number – a number of how many lives can be damaged before the system isn’t worth it – and the number is higher than zero.  New Zealand’s gamble with Entain was that the harm caused by collapsing the industry would’ve been higher than the harm risked by giving a private company the reins. It’s a gamble we can’t make again, and one we can’t afford to lose. 

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